Sure, you can use a traditional touchpad to navigate through the tiled interface in Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system, but even at this early stage it's well understood that the platform has been designed to be swiped, flipped, and pinched. This consideration without a doubt informed HP's decision to manufacture two new ultrabooks equipped with capacitative touch screens, both of which were unveiled today.

The first of the two finger-friendly systems is the HP Spectre TouchSmart Ultrabook. About that screen: its edge-to-edge, 15.6-inch display has a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 and comes equipped with IPS technology. For added visual flair, the Spectre TouchSmart's all-metal chassis also sports a soft-touch base. Measuring 17.9mm at its thinnest point, its dimensions hew to Intel's parameters for the coveted ultrabook designation, and it weighs 4.7 pounds.

The Spectre TouchSmart sports a healthy array of ports, including Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB 3.0 ports, and HDMI. Moreover, it's HP's first notebook to feature Intel Thunderbolt technology. While the touch screen is undoubtedly the main attraction here, the base configuration of an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and an optional solid-state-drive (SSD) is impressive enough to warrant attention on its own merit. The HP Spectre TouchSmart Ultrabook is expected to be available in the United States in December with a starting price of $1,399.

Alongside the Spectre TouchSmart, HP also unveiled its new Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4. Featuring a 14-inch multitouch HD display with a maximum resolution of 1,366 by 768, the Envy TouchSmart measures 23mm thin and, like the Spectre, weighs 4.77 pounds. In addition to a purported battery life of eight hours, it sports a backlit keyboard, Beats Audio (with an included subwoofer), and an optional AMD discrete graphics card with 2GB of memory. While Windows 8 is set to drop on Oct. 26, the HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is expected to launch at some point between late October to December. Pricing details were not released.

For a closer look at the new Spectre TouchSmart and Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4, check out the slideshow above.

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